whatever
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
whatever/wɒtˈevə(r)/
▶relative pronoun & determiner used to emphasize a lack of restriction in referring to any thing, no matter what. ▶interrogative pronoun used for emphasis instead of ‘what’ in questions. ▶adverb
- 1 [with neg.] at all; of any kind.
- 2 informal no matter what happens.
usage: In the emphatic use (whatever was she thinking of?), it is acceptable to use either whatever or what ever. See usage at however.
'whatever' also found in these Oxford entries:
all
- any
- catch-as-catch-can
- commutative
- cornucopia
- event
- fail
- fixed costs
- hell
- however
- howsoever
- improvise
- latch
- little finger
- murder
- omnivorous
- packet switching
- pot luck
- rate
- scratch
- what
- whatso
- whatsoever
- whencesoever
- whenever
- wherever
- whither
- will
- world
- zero-sum
